Yeah, Zalman always have really shiny surfaces. My Zalman waterblock was like a mirror. The problem is, is it really lapped? or is it just a coating to make the finish please, while at the same time actually being a small hinderance?

I Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme was way high in the middle ,it took hours to get it sanded flat ,I used 2500 on the last passes and it looks like a mirror and my i7920 took for ever to ,but I shine it like a mirror to and it fit together very flat ,it would have probably ran without no paste ,but I put a thin layer of artic silver5 on it and my temps went down around 7c on one core plus it made all my tempertures closer together.I now get 38c 36c 36c 34c instead of 45c 39c 39c 35c at 4.2g 1.3v Turbo on HT on.

I Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme was way high in the middle ,it took hours to get it sanded flat ,I used 2500 on the last passes and it looks like a mirror and my i7920 took for ever to ,but I shine it like a mirror to and it fit together very flat ,it would have probably ran without no paste ,but I put a thin layer of artic silver5 on it and my temps went down around 7c on one core plus it made all my tempertures closer together.I now get 38c 36c 36c 34c instead of 45c 39c 39c 35c at 4.2g 1.3v Turbo on HT on.

My TRUE (775) that I lapped was also way off, but I just recently got a TRUE-1366 for a friend's new build. Throwing some STG1 down and a quick test fit showed that the base was a lot flatter. I think they might have gotten their QC a lot better since the 775 version.

I spent about 20 minutes doing a spartan job on my TRUE copper and i7 spreader. It was only slightly more shiny than when I started and I figured it was at least better than when I started. I went with it like that as I felt the return on the time investment to the temp improvement wouldn't be worth it. I was right.

My CPU runs at a max temp of 72c under full load after running 8 instances of Prime95 for 12 hours and typically runs in the mid 60's after a long gaming session and idles at 42c. Another couple hours of lapping for 2 degrees of improvement wasn't worth it to me.

I spent about 20 minutes doing a spartan job on my TRUE copper and i7 spreader. It was only slightly more shiny than when I started and I figured it was at least better than when I started. I went with it like that as I felt the return on the time investment to the temp improvement wouldn't be worth it. I was right.

My CPU runs at a max temp of 72c under full load after running 8 instances of Prime95 for 12 hours and typically runs in the mid 60's after a long gaming session and idles at 42c. Another couple hours of lapping for 2 degrees of improvement wasn't worth it to me.

But those surfaces you polished look nice.

I just need to be flat - the thermal paste takes care of all the little dentures and whatnot. Finding it hard to lap my i7 as it seriously hurts the resale value.

see and that's what I don't understand. It is to be assumed that there is no warranty with buying them used becuase everyone and their grandmother overclock them and that right there voids the warranty.

If I could have bought a pre-lapped D0 I7 when I was looking for one, I'd have paid full price for one. taken the hard work out of it for me. and especially if I could see the results like what I ended up with, it would make me even more confident in buying becuase I would see that the seller knows what they're doing, had the temps to back it up, etc..

see and that's what I don't understand. It is to be assumed that there is no warranty with buying them used becuase everyone and their grandmother overclock them and that right there voids the warranty.

If I could have bought a pre-lapped D0 I7 when I was looking for one, I'd have paid full price for one. taken the hard work out of it for me. and especially if I could see the results like what I ended up with, it would make me even more confident in buying becuase I would see that the seller knows what they're doing, had the temps to back it up, etc..

Don't really understand how you can compare overclocking to physically modding the cpu.

Don't really understand how you can compare overclocking to physically modding the cpu.

Because you have to try hard to damage a cpu when lapping and no one selling a lapped cpu would do so without posting a picture of the results (at least I would hope they would post a pic)

I've lapped 6 cpu's since I did mine and with the amount of sanding done, you would have to make some SERIOUS mistake early in the process and if that were to happen, there's no way you could get all the way to a mirror shine.

I guess my point is, is that if the surface is properly lapped to a mirror shine, you know it was done right, hence no worry of the cpu not functioning. It either works or it doesn't and if they're selling a cpu that doesn't even work (whether it was a result of the lapping or whatever) that's a whole different scenario.

Because you have to try hard to damage a cpu when lapping and no one selling a lapped cpu would do so without posting a picture of the results (at least I would hope they would post a pic)

I've lapped 6 cpu's since I did mine and with the amount of sanding done, you would have to make some SERIOUS mistake early in the process and if that were to happen, there's no way you could get all the way to a mirror shine.

I guess my point is, is that if the surface is properly lapped to a mirror shine, you know it was done right, hence no worry of the cpu not functioning. It either works or it doesn't and if they're selling a cpu that doesn't even work (whether it was a result of the lapping or whatever) that's a whole different scenario.

The problem is that there would be no warranty left as the retail store would certainly notice the cpu being lapped while overclocking leaves no noticeable mark.

Honestly I don't really understand why these processors aren't done like this at the factory. Obviously one of their goals in putting a heat spreader there is to increase the heat transfer efficiency. So why not increase it yet further?